Flying Blind: How to save the day?

Let’s start with a story.

Imagine the scene, bad weather, unreliable flight instruments, and then a lightning strike; a commercial jetliner is suddenly flying blind.

The captain and his first officer had lost all instruments; visual cues were nonexistent; all they could see was a darkened sky and storm clouds, at 34,000 feet above the ground they had to react fast to save lives.

It was a typical spring day. They had flown this route many times, from Houston to San Luis Potosí, Mexico, they anticipated thunderstorms near the border. Still, they had not expected this, multiple failures simultaneously: the captain and first officer were “flying blind.”

Without the Help of Computers, Experience Matters

The first officer recalls,

“In that moment using only standby instruments, we had to revert to basic airmanship and hand fly the plane out of the storms,”

Flying blind is a rare event, when it happens pilots have to manually fly the plane solely relying on their experience, training, instincts and teamwork.

They reacted quickly, and the captain took hold of the primary controls while the first officer began to troubleshoot the problem.

Because of their training, they could approximate the critical data sets needed, airspeed, engine power and attitude. Hours in simulators meant the in the crucial 15 minutes following blackout they were able to land the plane safely.

Are you flying-blind?

We recently talked to 50 managers and asked how this virus crisis, that has forced many into remote-working, had impacted their ability to lead their teams.

They all had similar observations and comments. The first ten days were relatively easy. After this period, cracks started to appear. Many found that they were directing more than usual. Most meetings just covered tasks. Back-to-back Zoom calls left little time in the day to get their day-job done. Others also spoke of the toll on relationships, missing those stories you could hear as you passed a person’s desk and missing the social atmosphere of a normal office day.

Thinking about the problems we are all facing, the analogy of flying blind offered possible answers. What are the primary indicators we use leading teams, where do we look for attitude, power and velocity? What are the tools we need to implement to take control and land our teams safely?

We polled managers and asked “what are you using to interact with your teams?”

55% used video-conferencing, and surprisingly 43% were limited to voice and email.

The second area we asked about was the nature of meetings,

53% reported that meetings were becoming more and more task-focused.

Lastly, we asked about replacing day-to-day rituals with online alternatives,

69% had no online rituals, of this grouping 2/3rds hadn’t even considered the need and a scary 6% were not interested.

These numbers are concerning because they indicate that a significant number of leaders may not have been trained to fly-blind, they don’t know how to take over the manual controls and implement strategies to maintain a highly functional team.

Danger Signs

Losing visuals means that it becomes easier for people to disconnect, video is good, but if it is only used in the context of task-focused meetings video will become a stressor and not a tool for maintaining the teams bond to one another.

Losing rituals means losing those daily practices that allow us to build trust and rapport, which enable the speed and power of a team.

Things that teams need today:

A shared purpose: don’t take this for granted, helping your team renegotiate this now will help them reconnect. A shared purpose is a powerful catalyst that will revitalise motivation and lead to innovative thinking.

Who is on the team: Setting time at the start of each meeting to remind people who is on the team is an awesome strategy. It adds humanity back into the mix and reminds us of the qualities of those we have the privilege to work with. You can start with posting strengths and experience, and then keep adding one more update each meeting; such as recognising contributions or sharing pet names, and life at home stories.

Collaboration Space: Get a virtual whiteboard set up to allow your team to use post-it type exercises to share ideas and collaborate on problem-solving. These areas remain live between meetings enabling your team to continue their thinking in between sessions.

Small Talk: Build-in small talk time, have a virtual quiz-nite with refreshments and socialise just like before.

Many tools can help you; we know how to help because we have been using online tools to make meetings more productive and build teams that can turn remote working into an advantage. We have learned that the tools are 50% of the solution and that psychology and process is the other 50%.

You don’t need to let flying-blind become a disaster, you can turn the plane around and land it safely, you just need to take hold of the primary controls and troubleshoot the problems one at a time.

Be sure and reach out to chris@makinggreatleaders.com for more help and information about our Digital Tools and Team Building workshops.

what’s your question?

​Chris is a renowned authority on sales and marketing. He has influenced 1000’s of sales professionals to change how they approach customers and build sustainable careers by embracing technology. ​

DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS
Chris leads the team at MGL that is committed to enabling sales success for all our clients. His team helps our sales professionals integrate traditional sales process and digital media to save time, money and improve effectiveness. His success has been measured in the millions of dollar in additional revenues experienced by clients across the US and Europe. ​

CONSULTING
Chris provides clients advice on how to maximize digital content and fully integrate client engagement processes with all sales and marketing activities.

​Tim is an award-winning writer and speaker on leadership and coaching for performance. He has delivered over 1500 workshops in 42 countries to over 10,000 leaders.​

DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS​
Tim has led teams that have built development programs for companies in 53 countries and 24 languages. Our Design thinking team utilizes empathy and experimentation to arrive at innovative solutions.​By using design thinking, we help our clients make decisions based on what managers want instead of relying only on historical data or making risky bets based on instinct instead of evidence.​

FACILITATION
Tim is a powerful facilitator who has helped hundreds of management teams solve problems and build shared vision of the future. Tim often facilitates discussion by designing bespoke workshops at Executive-management and Board-level.

Apply For Breakthrough

If you are human, leave this field blank.

First Name
*

Last Name
*

Email
*

Company
*

Number of Years Managing Leadership
*

What leadership challenges are you facing?
*

What are your career goals?
*

Strategic Business Advisor, Mentor, Chairman, NED
Mark is a lawyer by training, and former Chairman and CEO of a large manufacturing company. Mark has over 30-years-experience of international business development, project management, sales and marketing and customer service.

​Kostas is a Lecturer in Developmental Psychopathology at QUB and an Associate Professor in Personality Psychology at Tomsk State University in Russia. Kostas is researching the links between Mental Toughness and leadership success. He is a Director of the InteRRaCt Lab and an International Associate Member of InLab at Goldsmiths, and the Russian-British Behavioural Genetics Laboratory at the Psychological Institute of the Russian Academy of Education.

​Lyle is an award-winning businessperson; his early career was in the banking industry in South Africa. His work has taken him to 16 different countries and allowed him to work with aspiring leaders across a wide range of sectors. Lyle is a member of the International Coaching Federation.

He is also a highly active member of the Princes’ Trust where he dedicates much of his free time to causes that support young people and entrepreneurship.

Strategic Business Advisor, Mentor, Chairman, NED
John was the Group Chief Risk Officer and an Executive Vice President at Fitch Group, Inc. with over 25 years experience in capital markets, general management, and macro research.